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Meet Maine here.

Group of museum employees gathered around a table rolling a painting.

Museum staff rolling a large painting to prepare it for moving.

What’s Been Going On at the Museum?

 

An Update on the Cultural Building’s Renovation

Are you missing the Maine State Museum? You are not alone. Many people have expressed frustration that the museum has been closed for so long and will not open until the early months of 2026.

The reasons for this long timeline? The renovation of the Cultural Building, the 55- year-old structure that houses the State Museum, State Archives, and State Library, has been much more complex than anyone expected. The Cultural Building’s needs required a down-to-the-bones rebuilding to comply with new building codes, achieve energy efficiency, create a safe and stable interior environment, provide better accessibility, replace worn-out finishes, and upgrade technology systems.

Workers inside an open building space with construction materials.

Sub-contractors install a ramp into the large remodeled gallery that will feature two humpback whale skeletons.

The general contractor for this massive renovation project is scheduled to finish in February 2025. Museum staff will then jump into action to implement plans for new exhibits and a family-friendly education center. It will be an all-hands-on-deck effort to pack, transport, and unpack stored museum collections, assemble exhibit cases, paint, install interactives, and re-establish museum workshops and labs.

Many thanks to Maine people and visitors for the continuing support and patience during this lengthy process. Museum staff are excited to unveil a sparkling, dynamic, engaging, and more comfortable Maine State Museum. Stay tuned!

Click here for past information on the building project

A Behind the Scenes Look at Construction in Progress

Workers inside an open building space with construction materials.
The museum outer lobby will have upgraded visitor amenities and new security infrastructure for the entire building.
Sparks flying from a saw.
A sub-contractor cuts steel studs to support new drywall.
Man working on drywall in a construction site.
New walls get taping and patching before painting.
Museum employee in a hard hat standing by ramp supports.
Museum exhibit designer Brewster Buttfield checks on structural supports for the ramp and tiered seating in the new Lunder Education Center.
Empty room with a window and construction equipment.
New windows bring new light into the education center.
Man on a cherry picker doing work on the ceiling of a building.
A ceiling grid in the “whale” gallery will support a new, efficient lighting system.

Meanwhile…

Museum staff have been busier than ever in planning the new exhibits and educational interactives that will be unveiled when the museum reopens. Take a look at just a few of the tasks that staff have tackled to continue current services or prepare for new ones.

Man gesturing to a whale skeleton.
Planning for the exhibit of a 45-foot-long humpback whale skeleton required visits to the workshop of Dan DenDanto, who prepared the skeleton for exhibit and will install it.
Museum employee holding a paintbrush and working on a taxidermy turkey.
Museum conservator Teresa Myers cleans and stabilizes one of around forty bird specimens planned for exhibit in the new education center.
Three people standing by a table full of archaeological artifacts.
Chief educator Joanna Torow, consultant Don Havey, and exhibit designer Brewster Buttfield examine artifacts planned for an educational interactive that will explore a Revolutionary War shipwreck site.
Museum employees standing by a huge red flag with the letters "CVM" in white.
Curator of historic collections Angela Goebel-Bain (standing at the back) leads an examination of a banner that brings new insights to plans for an exhibit on the Charles V. Minott shipyard in Phippsburg.
Museum employees seated around a table with historic telephones.
Educators Joanna Torow and Kate Webber plan the exhibit of a variety of old phones that will be displayed with the historic Bryant Pond switchboard in the new education center.
Children seated at a table with string, wooden eggs, and other supplies to build birds' nests.
Museum educators traveled to eight Maine libraries in early 2024 for the “All About Birds!” program. Here, children at the Turner Public Library work on a challenge to build a nest.
Maine State Museum